Heating systems exist in the present market to increase the temperature of a given space. Some of these heating systems include a radiator, which may or may not be filled with a fluid, to transfer heat to a space using convection. However, such systems are incapable or vastly inefficient for being used to move air within the space.
Many other systems combine resistive heating elements and a fan to heat a space. These space heaters use resistance heating wire, such as nichrome (NiCr) or ceramic heating elements (Positive Thermal Coefficient ceramic heaters) to create heat and force air through these elements to transfer heat to the air that will be expelled by the heater.
Resistive heating systems, such as those using NiCr and PTC elements, have a high density of heating elements, which inhibits fan function and air speed. The high density of resistive heating elements is very detrimental to air flow, slowing air speed and total volume of air output (Cubic Feet per Minute, CFM.). In order to increase the air output of the fan heaters with these dense heating elements, the fan speed and output would need to be increased greatly, problematically causing the heating system to be undesirably noisy.
Due to the increased effort required by the fan to pass air through heating elements of the heating system in the prior art, most consumers find it impractical to operate such system as fans when no heating is desired. In fact, due in part to these limitations, many of the heating system in the prior art do not even provide non-heating operation.
What is needed is efficient heating system that can move a gas, such as air, with high efficiency across one or more heating elements. What is also needed is the ability to incorporate the system with a fan such that the heating system may be used efficiently for heating and non-heating operation.